


On Location

by Gray Shadows (the_afterlight)



Category: Blood-Smoke Series - Tanya Huff, Smoke Series - Tanya Huff
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 23:09:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5473940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_afterlight/pseuds/Gray%20Shadows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While shooting a movie on a Caribbean island, Lee wakes up to a snow-covered world. With Tony four hours behind and a continent away, can he handle it on his own?</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Location

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Skitz_phenom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skitz_phenom/gifts).



Isla Nieve Blanca was -- Lee was very thankful -- very poorly named. While the sandy beaches were incredibly white (one of the production assistants on the shoot had rambled on for a good fifteen minutes, almost all of which Lee had blocked out, as to the local geological reasons the sand was so white), the island was, in fact, tropical, with no snow to be seen.

Which didn't explain why, on the third day of the shoot, Lee woke up to misting breath, a distinct need for additional layers of clothing, and a fine, white dusting of snow on his cottage's front porch. His first instinct was to reach for his phone and dial a number he knew by heart, but...

Lee looked out at the newly fallen snow, swore, and put his phone back in his pocket. Even if this _was_ something that was... up Tony's alley, and not just some kind of freak weather phenomenon, Tony was currently four hours behind him. Even if he was awake -- which he fucking well should not be, dammit, Tony, get some fucking sleep for once in your life -- Lee wasn't going to call and bother him. Not when he didn't know what was up.

Taking a deep breath and grabbing his bath towel -- the fluffiest, warmest thing he had to hand -- around his shoulders, Lee slipped on his sandals and thanked every deity who'd listen that the snow was barely a centimeter deep, and therefore _not_ deeper than the soles of his footwear. He'd gotten snow in his boots before, back home, and he did not relish it here.

* * *

By the time Lee finished the five minute walk to the set, he was shivering, his toes were numb, and all he wanted was to wrap his hands around the closest cup of coffee. He beelined for the craft services table, which was, as usual, buzzing with everyone who didn't have an immediate task at hand. "So," he said, kind of generally. "I thought I left this kind of weather back in Canada."

There were a few general grunts of acknowledgement -- people, Lee thought, who seemed to be as absorbed in their coffee, and the warmth it provided, as he wanted to be -- but one person took the bait. "I know, right?" she replied. Lee wasn't sure, but he thought she was one of the lighting crew. "I mean, this is nothing on a Montreal winter, but it's sure as hell not what I expected for the Caribbean in May."

"You heard about anything else weird with it?" Lee asked her. "I mean, doesn't weird stuff usually happen with... other weird stuff?" _Oh, god,_ Lee thought, _if Tony ever hears about this, he's never going to let me live it down._

The lighting tech -- Lee was almost certain he was right about that, and he was even pretty sure her name was Yvette -- Yvette shrugged. "As weird as snow in the Caribbean in May? I don't know. But there was someone over bugging His Royal Highness about where we're setting up second unit."

"His Roy-" Lee shook his head. That had to be the director. "Thanks, Yvette." She smiled, and he grinned mentally at remembering. It was weird being on a set where he didn't know anyone, much less everyone, after so long working on Darkest Night; not that he hadn't worked on other things before, but it had been a while since he took the time for another project. "Hopefully it's not too big a deal."

"We've got our permits," Yvette said, shrugging. "Anything else is the lawyers' problem."

* * *

_So do you know anything that can cause winter in the Caribbean?_ Lee texted Tony, as he walked through the set. _Because I woke up to snow._ He shouldn't hear back right away, but he did feel a little better knowing that Tony would know something was up.

Of course, when his phone buzzed a few moments later, Lee swore. "Dammit, Tony, get some fucking sleep." That was way too fast a response to have woken Tony up. Lee looked at it anyway. 

_Uh, lots of things?_

_Helpful. Thanks, Tony. Also, why aren't you asleep?_

_Amy and Zev insisted on a night of debauchery. I decided that magic and excessive consumption of alcohol were probably a bad idea, so mostly I've been babysitting and regretting my decision._ A few seconds later, another text comes in. _Amy said that if someone starts singing about letting it go, you should try an act of true love._

_Maybe something a little less Disney?_

Lee tucked his phone away as he walked up to the director's trailer; he could hear shouting from within, along with what sounded suspiciously like howling winds. "Okay," he muttered, trying to steel himself for whatever was coming next. "You can handle this. You don't need magic for everything, right?"

As he reached for the door handle, his phone buzzed again, and Lee pulled it out to glance at the text. _Let me know if you need some help?_ As he held it, his phone buzzed again. Love you.

The last text sent a bolt of warmth through Lee's chest; grinning, he reached for the door handle again and pulled it open.

Cold air blasted Lee in the face; the howling winds he'd heard had their source in a localised storm, centered around a tall, beautiful, and unearthly woman standing -- no, hovering, Lee realised, an inch or so above the floor -- in the middle of the trailer. A chill -- one which had nothing to do with the temperature -- went down Lee's spine as she turned her gaze upon him. "Who dares enter unbidden?" she said, her voice deep and echoing despite the small space. "Who would seek audience with the Queen of Frozen Nights?"

"Uh," Lee started, rather intelligently. He glanced around for the director, who seemed half-frozen but mostly unharmed, curled up on his couch. "My name's Lee. Lee Nicholas. I'm an actor?"

"Ah, one of those who invades my sacred lands and acts to change its face! Builds structures and casts fires and all manners of disgrace!" The Queen of Frozen Nights swept forward, stopping with her face inches from Lee's, as she looked upon him. The cold was perceptibly stronger closer to her, like it was an aura coming off of her. "And yet I sense no falsehood in you. Who are you, truly, mortal man? And why do I sense another's mark upon you? Too little know of the Ancient Truths."

What _mark_ , Lee wondered, had Tony left on him that other... beings... could sense? "That's probably my-- friend," he said, biting back boyfriend before he could out himself in front of a man who employed him. He and Tony had talked about that, and Lee just wasn't ready to be out outside of the CB Productions family. Even if he kinda wanted to be. "He's a wizard. Back home in Canada."

There's a pause, and though they don't stop entirely, the winds definitely calm down as the Queen of Frozen Nights -- and dammit, didn't she have a _name?_ \-- stared at him, confused. "'Back _home_ in Canada'?" she asked. "But I am of Canada. I am tied to the land. Any place we would be is Canada."

"Uh, we're in the Caribbean."

The winds stopped entirely, and the Queen dropped gracefully out of her hover to stand before him. "We are... not in Canada? These are not our lands?"

Lee shook his head. "We're on Isla Nieve Blanca. Which is apparently named for the snow white beaches, not actual snow." He paused, and when the Queen didn't respond, he added, "... Sorry?"

"How came we here? How do we return to our ancestral home?"

Shrugging, Lee explained, "I have no idea. But I can try to help you find out?"

The chill died entirely as the Queen nodded her acceptance. "I will withdraw my touch from the lands around us," she offered, "and you will help me in return." She tilted her head, looking at him incisively. "... Explain to me this 'movie shoot'."

Lee repressed a groan. He hadn't even started explaining 'Magic is real!' to His Royal Highness, and this was already going to be an incredibly long day. "Let me make a phonecall," he said, "and we'll get started."

* * *

Curled up in bed at the end of the day -- the shoot had been delayed as the snow melted, so it was earlier than he'd expected, despite his day helping the spirit and explaining the whole, "Oh, by the way, magic," thing to His Royal Highness, the director -- Lee laughed at the expression on Tony's face. He tilted the laptop screen a little, getting a better angle for his webcam so Tony could see him better.

"So the one other Canadian on the shoot _happened_ to have a family heirloom with her that _happened_ to be connected to some kind of... ancient winter spirit, which _happened_ to end up activated by sheer accident, which _happened_ to cause a... Localised Caribbean Winter? In May?"

Tony looked so incredibly confused that Lee couldn't help but laugh again. "Is that any weirder than SFX being done by a literal wizard?" he pointed out.

"At least that," Tony countered, "was someone doing things deliberately. So... Yvette?" he asked, and Lee nodded. "Yvette didn't even know what she had?"

"Just said it had been passed down in her family, for... a while. The Queen seemed to recognise her, though, at least a little, so there's probably some connection there."

"Huh." Tony grinned. "Hey, you know what this means, right?"

Lee frowned. "That I should have packed warmer clothes?" The Queen had 'withdrawn her touch,' or whatever she was doing, but things were taking some time to warm up to normal.

"You handled an entire supernatural thing on your own. Congratulations. Next time, _call me_?"

"Well..." Lee shrugged. "It's hard to say how much you could do, though, right? If you're back home and I'm out on a shoot? Maybe it's better if I get some experience... handling things. At least the smaller stuff."

Tony frowned, but nodded, a little hesitantly. "Let's... talk about that when you get home? Maybe I can find some things for you to help protect you a little more. There's a whole directory about advanced protection spells, I've barely started working through them."

"... Yeah." Lee resisted the urge to bang his head against the headboard. "Maybe we should look at those. I'm pretty sure you could use some of them _yourself_ ," he added pointedly.

Tony had the presence of mind to flush, embarrassed. "Yeah, well... There's a lot to go through. I can't do it all at once, can I?"

"You're lucky I love you," Lee teased. He kissed his fingertips and held them up to the webcam.

Tony did the same on the other end. "Love you, too. See you when you get home."


End file.
